Panic as police and robbers battles in a gun duel

Panic gripped residents of Abeokuta, the
Ogun State capital, on Thursday as
policemen chased a gang of suspected
armed robbers operating in two vehicles
round the streets of the metropolis and
engaged them in a gun duel.
Our correspondent gathered that the
robbery suspects had stormed Abeokuta
through the Adigbe-Obada-Oko route from
the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway in a
convoy of two vehicles – an unregistered
white Ford bus and another unmarked
sports car.
It was learnt that some residents alerted
the police command to the presence of the
robbers. The command sent its officers to
search for them.

Riot policemen attached to the Armoured
Personnel Carrier stationed at the Ibara
area of the metropolis gave the gang of
robbers a hot chase and eventually
engaged them in a gun battle.
It was learnt that the robbers fled after a
few minutes on seeing that a bullet had
pierced one of the tyres of the Ford
vehicle. The policemen, however, gave
them a chase.

As the robbers and the policemen moved
round the city exchanging fire, some of
the residents fled the main roads, while
some shop owners abandoned their wares.
But commercial motorcycle riders,
popularly called okada, also joined the
policemen and distracted the suspected
robbers by throwing stones at the
occupants of the vehicles.

The vehicle later stopped moving when it
got to a school at the Pepsi Cola/Agbeloba
area of the metropolis, which had been
cordoned off by another set of policemen.

While some of the robbery suspects
escaped in the sport's car, the policemen
arrested one occupant of the unmarked
white Ford bus.
The state command Police Public Relations
Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, who later arrived
at the scene of the arrest, commended the
policemen involved in chasing the
suspected robbers.

Adejobi, a Deputy Superintendent of Police,
also attributed the success recorded by the
police to the provision of equipment by
the state government.
He said, "This is just the tip of the iceberg.
The men came here to operate; we got
information and our mobile policemen
gave them a hot chase. We were able to get
two of
the suspected armed robbers, while
some of them fled."

He added that the policemen could have
shot and killed some of the fleeing robbery
suspects, but hesitated because the
incident occurred in a school environment,
where students were around to collect
their report cards.
He said, "We have informed other
neighbouring commands to be on the
lookout so that they can arrest them."

The PPRO also told newsmen that a team of
police officers in the Special Anti-Robbery
Squad, led by their leader, Ahmed Tijani, on
Tuesday killed four armed robbers in their
hideouts in Odan Abuja village, Igbesa area
of the Ado - Odo/Ota Local Government
Area.
Adejobi said the robbery suspects were
among those who attacked officials of the
Vigilance Services of Ogun State at the
Onihale area, Ifo Local Government.
He said, "The armed robbers, on sighting
the police, opened fire and the police
responded appropriately. Four of them
died on the spot while some of them fled
the area with bullet wounds. There was no
arrest."

Share on Google Plus

About mine4u